Mel Kleiman

President, Humetrics

Certified Speaking Professional Mel Kleiman is North America’s leading authority on how best to recruit, select, and retain top-quality, hourly employees and their managers.

A renowned consultant, speaker, author, business owner, and trainer for over 30 years, Mel is also the founder and president of Humetrics, a leading developer of systems, training processes, and tools for recruiting, selecting, and retaining an exceptional workforce.

A demonstrated leader in HR thought, Mel has authored numerous research studies and white papers. His articles have appeared in dozens of trade and professional journals. Mel’s books include the bestselling Hire Tough, Manage Easy; as well as 267 Hire Tough Interview Questions; 180 Ways to Build a Magnetic Culture; Recruit Smarter, Not Harder; and So, You Got the Job…..Now What?

Mel earned the prestigious National Speakers Association Certified Speaking Professional designation in 1996 and is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management.

I don't think the first two questions really matter. It does not matter whether I have witnessed abuse of an employee or whether it happens more at this time of year or any time of year. The fact of the matter is that it happens and that employees need to learn how to deal with it.Move out of the world of retail and just think of all of the articles that you have been reading about abusive passengers on airplanes.Just as flight attendants have been trained to deal with these situations and airlines have very definite policies on how to deal with the problems, retailers need to take the same approach.

I am not saying this as a prediction, I am saying this as a statement. This technology is a major game-changer and it is going to be a major disruption in a lot of industry besides those that hire a lot of hourly employees. How fast it is implemented will be determined by the cost compared to the labor savings and side benefits of inventory control and the reduction of theft.

There is some real great meat in the article. The only problem is that such a system is too complex to be used on the retail floor where most transactions are quick and one does not develop the long-term relationship necessary to implement this approach.Just look at the poll results of the usefulness of this system and see that over 30 percent of the experts who answered the poll were undecided. I think that is the highest number undecided I have ever seen.

If I was on the board I would vote against this idea unless the hotel was going to be in downtown Vegas. Otherwise it is way too far off course. What has made Zappos famous is its focus on, and flexibility in, its space.

Macy's, like any company, need to always evaluate the way they spend/invest their money. In today's challenging and rapidly-changing world nothing is sacred.In this case I think Macy's is making the right decisions by continuing to sponsor the parade and looking how to maximize the return on investment.

This is something that Walmart has needed to do for a long time. Every year they seem to get the same complaint from their customers. I, for one, have walked out of Walmart because of long lines. Now they need to live up to the hype.If I remember comments and ideas from last year, they were going to do things to shorten the lines. Either they got busier then they thought they would be, or once again it was a great idea with poor execution.Let's see if this year will be any different.

Yea, the world moves a little closer to being a safer place to live. In reality we already have air planes that fly themselves. I don't think that trucks are far behind.Right now I would not worry about putting drivers out of work. The problem is there are not enough drivers to fill the need. Even if trucks can drive themselves we will still need someone to load and unload them.

I am way past the Millennial generation but I love my smartwatch, not because it does a lot of things well but because it doesn't -- and that is the problem. Yes it tells time. But not in the sunlight. Yes it measures exercise, but only some of them and only some of the effort. It fails at measuring sleep. In reality it is only so good.So why do I love it? Because it beeps.It can wake me up, it can tell me I have an appointment and it can tell me I have five minutes until my presentation is suppose to end.So the reason I Love my smartwatch is one specific thing it does well. That's not a great thing to build a market on.P.S.: I am hard of hearing and the vibration wakes me up in the morning when I travel, since I can't hear most alarm clocks.

A customer is a customer, either online, in the store or on the phone. They are looking to spend money on something you have to sell. The key is to help and sell to the customer any way they want to be helped and served.

Yes others are going to raise the wages of managers if it will keep them out of having to pay overtime.Item two has more impact. If Walmart continues to raise wages of the hourly workforce they are going to need to get more work out of the workers they have. They will have to follow the airline model and figure out how to get the customers to do a lot of work.Just look at one number: net profit per employee. In Walmart's case it is about $6,500 per full-time employee. If you raise each of those 40-hour workers $1 an hour that costs $2,000 a year, per employee. Figure out the math that cuts profit by one-third.

This is not a new idea. Fiesta Supermarket built a store in Houston more than 30 years ago with a vertical garden. It looked great, got a lot of attention and cost a lot of money. Five years after they opened that store the garden was gone. The novelty wore off and cost of up keep was to high.Lots of things have changed over the last 30 years. I will bet this is one thing that will go away again in five years.

The number one thing that managers do to demotivate their best employees is not on the list. Note I said their best employees. Our research has shown that managers who not handle problem employees and put up with sub-par performance from fellow employees is the most damaging factor affecting the STAR employees, the ones who truly make a difference.